The present invention relates to a vehicle brake pedal and especially to a vehicle brake pedal which can apply different braking pressure to different master cylinders.
In a conventional automotive vehicle, a pedal is provided for controlling the brakes, which pedal is foot operated by the driver. In a typical automotive braking system, the driver applies pressure to a brake pedal which drives a master cylinder to apply pressure to the brake cylinders located at each wheel which drives the brakes pads against a braking rotor to brake the vehicle. Hydraulic pressure is applied from the master cylinder through fluid lines to individual brake cylinders and to individual brakes. A brake pedal is thus pushed by the operator of a vehicle to drive a piston in the master cylinder which then applies a fluid pressure from a reservoir to individual brake cylinders and brakes. Braking in vehicles is typically balanced and is different by a fixed ratio between the back and front wheels of a vehicle. In some vehicles, multiple master cylinders are provided so that the ratio of pressure can be adjusted between front and rear wheels. This is accomplished by adjusting the pressure applied from the different master cylinders.
Typical automotive brake systems can be seen in the Rixon et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,884,532 for an adjustable pedal apparatus. The braking module includes two screw jacks which may be selectively extended or contracted to vary the distance to the pedal pad from the lower end of the pedal arm and thereby accommodate drivers of various statues. The Wiley U.S. Pat. No. 2,953,936 is an automotive brake actuating system in which the force transmitting mechanism for distributing an actuating force between two driven systems automatically changes the ratio with a delivered force to each system as the actuating force varies in intensity. The Kohlman U.S. Pat. No. 3,113,433 is a brake system which provides a plurality of master cylinders that are separate but allows the simultaneous actuation of the front and rear wheel brakes of a vehicle. The system includes means for materially increasing the effective force able to be supplied by the operator to the piston of such master cylinders without increasing the necessary manual effort of the operator. The Senkowski et al. U.S. Pat. No. 2,790,522 is a brake equalizer system having individual rear wheel brakes which may be operated either independently or in unison. The Wilson U.S. Pat. No. 3,143,000 is a brake system for vehicles which employs two independent braking systems each applying the brake or brakes on one side of the vehicle for steering purposes. The Riddy U.S. Pat. No. 3,181,388 is a braking system for a vehicle in which two brakes or sets of brakes are applied by separate actuating means which can be actuated individually or simultaneously.
The present invention is a vehicle brake pedal which allows a pair of brake master cylinders to have braking pressure applied thereto by the operator while continuously varying the ratio of the pressures applied to each master cylinder to thereby vary the braking pressure continuously between the front and rear brakes. The vehicle brake system in accordance with the present invention advantageously allows the driver of a racing vehicle to have better control of the braking of the vehicle during a race.
A vehicle brake pedal has first and second master cylinders and a first pedal arm movably attached to the vehicle and having a brake pedal foot pad movably attached thereto. A second brake pedal arm is operatively coupled to the first master cylinder and coupled to the brake pedal foot pad on one end portion thereof for movement of the second brake pedal arm responsive to movement of the brake pedal pad. A third brake pedal arm is operatively coupled to the second master cylinder and is coupled to the brake pedal foot pad on another portion thereof. The movement of the third brake pedal arm is responsive to movement of the brake pedal foot pad so that the brake pedal foot pad can be rotated to different angles on the first pedal arm to thereby apply different pressure to the first and second master cylinders by varying the brake pedal foot pad while applying pressure thereto.